Thousands Of High School Students Have Walked Out Of Class To Protest Gun Violence

Thousands Of High School Students Have Walked Out Of Class To Protest Gun Violence

The National School Walkout is happening on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shooting.

Thousands of high school students around the country walked out of class Friday morning for the National School Walkout aimed at preventing gun violence.

The event comes on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting, which killed 13 people.

Students from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia marched to the US Capitol in Washington, DC, joining other schools protesting outside the White House.

Over 2600 school walkouts are happening on Friday, at least one event in every state, organizers said. Most are scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. local time and to include a moment of silence for the victims of school shootings.

The movement's website explains the reason for the protest: “We are walking out for those who lost their lives to gun violence, to talk about the real problems our country is facing, and to find solutions the problems that our leaders have failed to address.”

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

In New York City, thousands of students from across the city are protesting at Washington Square Park, at an event that began at 12 p.m.

Students at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a shooter killed 17 people on February 14, joined in the walkout — including David Hogg, one of the founders of the #NeverAgain movement.

Hogg, like many of the protesters today, is wearing orange, the color of the anti-gun violence movement.

Terry Spencer / AP

Students at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, CT, posted video on Snapchat as they walked out of class at 10 a.m.

And led chants of “the NRA has got to go, hey hey, ho ho.”

In Canton, Michigan, hundreds of students from Salem High School, Canton High School, and Plymouth High School in Canton, Michigan (the three schools make up the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park) walked out of class.

They sat on the campus’s football field.

At Coon Rapids High School, Minnesota, students gave speeches about gun violence.

And at McKinney North HS in McKinney, Texas, students posted on Snapchat as they walked out of class.